Germans spend the least on retail

At 22.2 per cent, Germans spend the lowest proportion of their consumption on retail of all 27 Member States of the European Union. Across the EU, an average of 31.9 per cent of private consumption goes towards retail rather than services, leisure or other expenditure categories. However, even at European level, the downward trend is continuing for the fourth year running. This is shown by the new study from NIQ-Geomarketing.

According to the study, despite rising purchasing power and growing retail turnover, the retail sector is continuing to lose ground within private consumer spending across Europe. By 2025, retail will account for just 31.9 per cent of total private consumption. Customers in Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, however, spend a significantly larger proportion of their consumer expenditure on retail.

Among the 27 EU Member States, Croatia has the highest share of retail spending at 48.3 per cent, followed by Lithuania at 45.7 per cent, Bulgaria at 44 per cent and Hungary at 43.2 per cent. Germany brings up the rear with 22.2 per cent. There, as in other higher-income Western European countries, a large proportion of consumer spending goes towards services and other non-retail-related expenditure.

"Retail turnover is growing, but an increasing proportion of consumer budgets is being spent on services and leisure. This points to a structural shift in consumer priorities across Europe," explains study director Philipp Willroth, adding: "Rising purchasing power no longer automatically leads to higher retail spending."

In 2025, purchasing power in the EU continued to rise. Average purchasing power per inhabitant reached EUR 22,425, which was 3.3 per cent higher in nominal terms than the revised figure for 2024. In total, the inhabitants of the Member States had around EUR 10.1 tn euros at their disposal. The strongest growth was recorded in Poland (8.8 per cent), Lithuania (8.3 per cent), Romania (7.7 per cent) and Bulgaria (7.3 per cent). According to NIQ, the growth in Southern and Eastern Europe indicated that income disparities within Europe were continuing to narrow.

Following the sharp price rises in the years following the 2022 energy crisis, inflation in the EU stabilised, averaging 2.5 per cent in 2025. The highest inflation rate was recorded in Romania (6.8 per cent), followed by Estonia (4.8 per cent), Hungary (4.4 per cent), Croatia (4.4 per cent) and Slovakia (4.2 per cent). Market researchers attribute this primarily to wage growth and labour market pressures in parts of Eastern Europe. France, by contrast, had one of the lowest inflation rates in Europe at 0.9 per cent, aided by weaker domestic demand and a favourable energy mix.